I Became the Blacksmith NPC

Quite a few players had died in the dungeon and respawned back in the Starter Village, but given movement speed and other logistical concerns, most teams would designate one person to carry the bulk of the supplies. After all, it wasn't like every dungeon run ended in a full wipe — sometimes you'd sense things going south, pull out of the fight, and try again, which meant potions were the primary drain on resources.

"You can tell both sides really want to win." Liu Kongkong watched Heart and Soul sprint past, crying and muttering something in a foreign language, not even stopping to repair his gear before charging straight back into the dungeon.

Lonely as a Song, who had been waiting at the dungeon entrance, glanced at Heart and Soul and wordlessly produced a pair of shoes. Heart and Soul snatched them without breaking stride and plunged back in. As for payment — both sides had settled up in advance.

"Stingy to the last second. Tsk, tsk." Liu Kongkong went back to crafting and glanced over at the row of scalpers by the entrance, who were eyeing him like hawks.

"Alright, guys, let's talk strategy — how much gold do we have between us? Let's see if we can buy out every shop in the village!" Sitting around waiting to lose wasn't a plan. Better to go all-in — going all-in is a kind of wisdom!

Buy out everything? How much would it cost to clean out all these shops? The others looked around at the motley crew assembled, wondering if their combined funds could even come close.

"If we can't do all of them, let's just hit one — the potion shop, the tailor shop, the jewelry store, or the blacksmith shop. Pick one."

"The potion shop. I've been watching, and it's had the best business these past two days," someone suggested.

That was quickly shot down. "Are you actually dumb or just pretending? Look at the potion shop owner — yesterday she was simmering stuff in little jars, and today she's got a cast-iron pot a full meter wide! That one pot can produce hundreds, maybe thousands of bottles. You think you can buy all of that?!"

"The jewelry store, then?" Everyone turned to look at the jewelry store owner, only to find him pulling out a straw, looping it around his finger, and tying a knot. A straw ring — done. The whole motion was fluid and effortless, one ring every few seconds.

"No good, he's too fast."

"Too fast? Have you seen Auntie Qi over at the tailor shop?"

They wandered over to the tailor shop and found that all the clothes and pants had already sold out, leaving only a pile of wristbands and forehead guards. And calling them wristbands and forehead guards was generous — they were basically just strips of cloth.

"I've always thought this stuff is the biggest rip-off. You buy it and then have to tie it on yourself." It was a one-step process — cut a strip of cloth — which was exactly why Qi Ajuan loved making it.

"So what do we buy, then — the blacksmith shop? He looks pretty productive today. But…"

Compared to the other shopkeepers, Liu Kongkong appeared to be working the hardest. He was hammering away nonstop, and only after a long while would he lift a weapon to inspect it.

"That pace seems manageable — about two minutes per piece?"

Little did they know that Liu Kongkong only held up the weapons to check the color of their names. With the combined effects of [Time Is Money] and [Life Needs Miracles], he was churning out green-quality equipment in just two or three hammer strikes. As [Life Needs Miracles] leveled up, some items had recently started showing a faint blue tint in their names, so he'd occasionally hold one up for a closer look.

"Still a masterwork, but the blue isn't deep enough yet." Liu Kongkong sighed. Out of a hundred weapons made in two minutes, only one showed a hint of blue — the skill level was still a bit low. He looked up and found the row of scalpers standing right in front of him.

"What do you want?"

Liu Kongkong was momentarily taken aback. Did their investment fail and now they're here to take it out on me?

"Master Liu, if you don't mind us asking — how much stock do you have left?" The one in front asked with a grin. The blacksmith's crafting speed might be slow, but they had to account for inventory.

Still at it? These guys are really committed to the scalper life. Liu Kongkong couldn't quite figure out how these supposedly clever players had come up with the idea of clearing out NPC shops.

"Not much — about 2,200 pieces." Two hundred of those had just been crafted, of course.

Hiss — that many?! The group immediately had second thoughts. They'd assumed the NPC had sold at least six or seven thousand pieces that morning and figured there wouldn't be much left.

"Master Liu, roughly how much can you produce in a day?"

"Depends on the materials and the equipment level."

"What about the highest-level stuff?"

"That'd be around twenty or so pieces." Liu Kongkong was being honest.

"Deal! We'll take all 2,200 pieces!" Hearing that he could only make twenty-odd pieces of top-tier gear per day, they figured there was no way supply could keep up with demand. Tomorrow, business would be absolutely booming!

They've got that kind of money? Liu Kongkong was surprised, but the old saying still held — business is about mutual willingness. If you want to buy, I'll sell!

The group ran back and forth between the warehouse and the blacksmith shop in a frenzy. Five minutes later, Liu Kongkong looked at his inventory and found an extra 210 gold. At today's exchange rate of 1:0.2, that was over 400,000 yuan…

He couldn't shake the feeling that this money carried the scent of financial ruin. Liu Kongkong felt a twinge of guilt as he watched the scalpers grinning like idiots. In the end, he steeled himself and pulled something gleaming from the warehouse.

"Holy shit! Master Liu, didn't you say you were out? How did you — and what even is that thing?"

The group stared at the enormous "wheel" in Liu Kongkong's hands.

"This is the Death-Defying Ferris Wheel — my latest creation." Liu Kongkong said proudly, holding up the "weapon" for them to inspect.

Death-Defying Ferris Wheel: Attack 10, Attack Speed Unknown, Durability 5000 (Equipment Requirement: Level 18, Strength 300)

Below that, a thoughtful description explained the weapon's design philosophy:

[Tired of not having enough attack speed? Does a Strength-focused Warrior really have to give up rapid combos forever? This weapon perfectly solves that problem.]

"This is a weapon?" The group stared blankly at the massive object before them. Anyone who didn't know better would think Liu Kongkong had stolen the waterwheel from the village entrance to sell.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Liu Kongkong glanced at his character panel — the Void Space had provided him with a good number of attribute points over the past few hours — and casually allocated points until his Strength hit 300. Then he hoisted the Death-Defying Ferris Wheel with one hand!

"Watch closely — this is how you use it!" He raised the Death-Defying Ferris Wheel high with one hand and gripped the crank with the other. Then he started cranking like mad. With a series of clank-clank-clank sounds from the gears, the massive disc began to spin! The iron weights hanging from the disc flew outward with the rotation!

"See that?! The faster you spin it, the faster the attack speed! These ten iron weights get flung outward by centrifugal force as the disc rotates — each one that hits a monster counts as one attack! How terrifying is that? One full rotation equals ten attacks! If you spin fast enough, landing twenty attacks per second is easy!"

Whether the weapon was terrifying or not, the group wasn't sure — but right now, the blacksmith himself seemed pretty terrifying. He'd just casually picked up a weapon with a 300 Strength requirement like it was nothing…

"Wait — Master Liu, you said you make twenty pieces a day… does that mean…?" Someone had spotted the problem.

"Right, it's this thing. You asked about the highest-level stuff — this is level 18, the highest level in my shop right now…"

"What about the level-15 gear?!"

"Oh, that? If you need a lot, I can put in some overtime — two to thirty thousand pieces a day is doable."

"…Master Liu, can I… get a refund?"

"For refunds, go see the general goods merchant — he buys things back."

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